State Auditor says leasing Lottery not a good idea

State Auditor Dave Vaudt is among those who are opposed to leasing the Iowa Lottery. "Don’t like the idea," Vaudt says. The governor is exploring the idea which would see a private company pay the state millions now, with the promise of a small, yearly cut of future profits. Vaudt says state policymakers haven’t proven in the past that they can resist spending all of such lump sum payments.

"The sad part is we’ve had piles of money, such as the tobacco securitization money, and we proved that we can’t really manage those funds well so what we’d end up doing is probably wasting those dollars upfront and giving up a future revenue stream," Vaudt says.

Vaudt suggests lawmakers and the governor should focus on cutting the budget significantly rather than trying to find new sources of revenue, like leasing the lottery to a private company.

"I think that’s a very shortterm, band aid approach to what is a longer term problem," Vaudt says. Vaudt made his comments during today’s (Wednesday’s) taping of the "Iowa Press" program which will air Friday at 7:30 p.m. on Iowa Public Television.